A Failed Mission
by Yandeim Nareim
Summary: After learning the Wind Rasengan, Naruto decides to take another shot at Sasuke. But, to do so, he has to become a Nukenin. Rated M just in case for violence. NaruIno
1. Chapter 1

_**A Failed Mission**_

A/N: This is partially AU. It's set right after Naruto learns the Wind Rasengan, and the events follow my story from then on. Also, considering it hasn't been revealed yet, I will have to speculate on Naruto's secondary nature type.

Naruto was thinking it over for a long time while he sat in his ran down apartment, the moon shining in his window brightly. If he did this, he knew Tsunade would be forced to register him as a Nukenin. He loved Konoha a lot, and didn't want to be considered a Nukenin, but it was because he loved Konoha that he wanted to do this.

He had found out where Orochimaru's lair was, and with his new Jutsu and his improving taijutsu skills, he felt he would be strong enough to finally capture Sasuke and possibly, if he was lucky, kill Orochimaru at the same time. But, even if he were to decide this was the right thing to do, it was another thing succeeding in escaping from Konoha. But, living there all his life and having been a prankster for most of his early life, he knew small holes in the security. And, with his famous Kage Bunshin, he would be able to exploit those holes.

So, with a tear, he decided it was the right thing to do. He figured, after he returned with Sasuke, the village would forgive him for leaving. So, he gathered all his life savings, gathered all his remaining kunai and shuriken, and then left his forehead protector on his bed. He then silently jumped out of his window onto his roof. He breathed in slowly.

'Here goes nothing,' he thought.

He formed his hands in the cross tiger seal and muttered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Ten clones formed, and they split in different directions, all headed to the walls of Konoha. The real Naruto headed for the west gate, the weakest guarded gate due to the rough terrain outside of it that usually prevented enemies from getting to that gate. He then once again performed the Kage Bunshin, creating four more clones. Then they all rushed towards the gate. The two Nins on guard immediately noticed.

"HEY!" one of them yelled.

Like lightning two shuriken were head towards each of the clones. They all dodged, and the real Naruto sped up. So far, this was easier than he thought. But, he though that too soon. Immediately, the two were in front of all five of the clones. They pulled out four kunai in each of their hands, throwing all of them at once. Naruto cursed under his breath as each of his clones and himself pulled out kunai and tried to deflect. Two of his clones failed, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Then, he split the remaining two clones up as he went straight. The two ninja had to guess which was real. One of them headed with one of the clones, but the other guessed right, and remained with the real Naruto. Naruto quickly made another in front of him, and then quickly performed a Henge into a kunai, and it looked like he had simply reached behind him to grab a kunai. His clone then threw the "kunai" past the ninja.

"Crap!" he said in false frustration, pretending to miss.

"Pathetic," his opponent muttered as he threw two more shuriken at Naruto, probably his last two.

They both hit the clone square in the chest, and the clone disappeared.

"Crap, that one was a clone!" the ninja said in frustration, and darted in the direction of the other clone.

Naruto smiled happily as he changed back into himself. His plan worked. He had successfully escaped. He continued running for a few miles before finally taking a break, and dispelling any clones that might have survived. He was happy that he had managed to escape without harming any of the guards or having to use too much chakra.

He figured that the Oinin would be after him soon. But he did have one advantage over most Nukenin. Tsunade liked him too much, and would not order them to kill on sight, like the norm for most Nukenin. So the worst that could happen to him would be that he would be dragged back before he had a chance to complete the mission. So, he decided the best thing to do for now was just to run. Run as far away as he could. He had to complete the mission before he returned to Konoha.

After his short break, he just started running blindly in one direction, hoping to stumble upon a town soon. After a few hours of running, he hit a very small town. A sign said it was named Futokon, a town Naruto had never heard of before. But it was enough for now. He made his way to a small store, walking in and looking around. Near the counter he found what he was looking for…a map. He then paid a hundred yen for it, and left the store.

He took a glance at the map. He was only about twenty or thirty miles outside of Konoha. That wasn't nearly enough. But he couldn't continue now. It was too dark to really see where he was going. So he decided that he would find a hotel for the moment, and then set out to a farther location the next day.

So, he set out in search of a hotel for the night.

A/N: I know it's really short, but it's just the prologue. Hope it was good. Read and review please.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I'm watching the election now (very disappointed, I'm pulling for McCain and it isn't looking good so far), so I have a lot of down time during commercials to write, so yeah. Ino will be coming into the story in a few chapters, and don't worry, she won't be helpless.

After walking for a couple of minutes, Naruto noticed a relatively nice looking hotel, but one that wouldn't be on the very expensive side either. It was moderate, which is exactly what Naruto was looking for. He walked in, and saw an old man seemingly sleeping at the reception desk.

As Naruto walked toward the desk, though, the man immediately looked up. This caught Naruto off guard a little, but he decided to ignore it. Naruto stopped at the counter, and grabbed his frog wallet.

"How much does it cost for one night in a regular room?" he asked, snapping the wallet open.

The man thought for a moment, and then answered, "5500 yen."

Naruto nodded. That wasn't too bad. He reached in and pulled out the necessary amount, and laid it on the counter. The man then gave Naruto a key with number 213 on it. So Naruto walked to the stairs and slowly walked up them, stopping on the second floor, and finding his room. He stuck the key in and opened the door.

The room was very moderate, as Naruto expected. It actually reminded him a lot of his own room. He shut the door, threw the key on a desk next to the bed, and fell onto his back on the bed. He had been running a lot recently, so he was rather tired. But he couldn't fall asleep yet. He first needed to find out where he was headed next.

So he took out the map and flattened it against his bed. He found a red marker in one of the drawers, and made a mark where he was now, and his final destination, just outside of a tiny town near the Sound Village. Said destination was hundreds of miles away. It would take at least a week to get there, probably two.

Naruto sighed. He started looking for a good city to go to the next morning. There was a good city on the border of the fire nation that he could probably get to late in the afternoon if he spent most of the day running. That sounded good to him. So he circled said city, and then folded the map back up, stashing it in his pocket.

He laid back down and started thinking. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't really say that he was sure he could beat Orochimaru and Sasuke. Sasuke no doubt had been getting stronger the past three years, like Naruto had, and Orochimaru was the man that defeated the Sandaime Hokage. The more Naruto thought about it, the more he figured that his decision had been too rash.

But he couldn't go back now. He had to continue and complete the mission. But, he also had to continue training as he continued his way toward the Sound Village. It would slow him down, but it was necessary if he wanted the mission to succeed.

Just then, he heard a commotion below. His instincts kicked in, and he bolted toward the door, wrenched it open, and bolted downstairs. He saw three Oinin standing in front of the desk, looking like they were ready to kill the old man.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Naruto said, not wanting to get innocents involved.

The middle hunter looked at Naruto, and the jinchuriki could almost see the hatred behind the hunter's mask.

"Good. We don't even have to look for you!"

"So, are you actually here on granny Tsunade's orders, or did you come for my on your own free will?" Naruto asked, suspecting that Tsunade wouldn't send professional hunter-nin to kill him.

"Shut up! That's none of your business," the one on the left said.

'Just as I thought,' Naruto said to himself.

"Well, then that technically makes you three Nukenin as well, did you ever think of that?" Naruto questioned, grinning.

The one in the middle had had enough, and flashed through seals at lightning speed.

"Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu!" the nin shouted, and then threw his head forward, opening his mouth.

Bullets of water flew out, speeding toward Naruto. Naruto cursed loudly, leaping into the air, barely avoiding the technique. Then, with horror building in his stomach, Naruto noticed that one of the Oinin had disappeared.

"Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!" Naruto heard from behind him.

"Crap! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto made a clone as fast as he could, and had the clone throw him away from the attack.

He had narrowly escaped, and his clone was engulfed in the flame.

'They're going for the kill. Fine, I'll have to do the same!'

Naruto formed the cross tiger seal again, and formed two more clones. He then started gathering chakra in his right hand, as the two clones helped. As the wind chakra was added in, he felt pain gathering quickly in his wrist.

"What the?"

Then, something happened that caught Naruto completely off guard. The old man, which Naruto had just noticed had been flashing through a very long string of seals, yelled at Naruto.

"Run away! I'll cover them for a little while and buy you enough time to escape!"

Naruto's clones disappeared and the chakra that had been gathering in his hand disappeared. Naruto just stared at the old man. Why one earth would he help Naruto, a stranger, against three Oinin?

"Don't look at me like that! I said go! Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!" he said as he finished with the bird seal.

Water came rushing from a room behind the desk in the form of a dragon, and bolted toward the three Oinin, crashing on them and slamming them into the wall. The wall then collapsed and the water dragon continued to carry them. Then the man drew two kunai, and bolted after them, landing on the dragon, and literally riding it toward the Oinin.

Naruto didn't wait to watch the rest of the battle, finally obeying the man and heading toward the exit of the city. His wrist was still throbbing with pain, which he still didn't understand. So, he decided to go to the one source that might know. He stopped near the gate to the exit of the city, and closed his eyes, falling into his mind.

"_Where are you, you stupid fox?!_"

"**What do you want this time?**" the fox asked in a tired and annoyed voice.

"_What the heck is wrong with my wrist?_" Naruto yelled.

"**Well, it seems that the wind chakra being so close to your hand has caused it to cut at the cells in your wrist. Basically, you using that jutsu eats at you from the inside, and could kill you.**"

"_What about your freakin' regeneration?!_"

"**You really are an idiot. Wind chakra is the sharpest thing anyone can go up against. It's sharper than the sharpest weapon ever created, and cuts at an unbelievably fast rate. Basically, it cuts your cells so quickly that I can't regenerate them fast enough.**"

Naruto pulled himself out of the reverie. Talk about bad news. Now he couldn't use his new Rasengan. No, there had to be some way. Then, he got an idea. When he used Rasengan, he only used his right hand to summon the chakra and contain it, and then used his clones to do the rest. His left hand was useless.

But, if he held his wrist with his left hand and used medical ninjutsu to help speed up his natural regeneration, and would make it safe to use the jutsu. But, even with that idea, there was still one glaring problem…he didn't know how to use medical ninjutsu.


	3. Chapter 3

dontWorryAbootIt: Ryo hasn't been used in Japan for over fifty years.

So, with that in mind, Naruto decided that the best thing was to learn medical ninjutsu as quick as possible. Otherwise, his most powerful weapon would be completely useless. So he started to think of the medical ninjutsu users of Konoha that he could learn from. Tsunade and Sakura, even though they were probably the two best medic-nins in Konoha, were out of the question. They would force Naruto to come back the instant they saw him, and would refuse to teach him otherwise.

But, besides them, he couldn't really think of any medic-nins…There was Shizune, but she was too loyal to Tsunade and Naruto didn't know her that well…as he thought more, he realized he was left with only one choice. A kunoichi that, though she was pretty much just as loud as he was, he didn't know very well. Yamanaka Ino was the only other medic-nin he could think of in the village of Konoha.

But, even as he figured out who he could learn from, he realized there was another problem. How was he going to learn from her without returning to Konoha? As he again racked his brains for his solution, there was only one that he could come up with. He would have to infiltrate Konoha and kidnap her. And, with this the only solution in his mind, he slapped his forehead.

"It would be nearly impossible to infiltrate the village without killing anyone. The guards are probably on high alert, and they won't fall for the same trick twice. But…it's my only choice. Great," Naruto sighed.

With these thoughts in mind, he headed toward another exit from the small city that was in the direction of Konoha. As he passed through the city, he could see a large plume of smoke rising from what was previously a hotel.

'Where on earth did that old man learn such a powerful water technique? I just hope he's okay. Even with a technique like that, three Konoha Oinin aren't easy to deal with.'

When Naruto was almost to the exit of the city, he saw a small store with a katana on display in the window. For some reason Naruto found himself staring at the weapon. The weapon was just a simple sword with a thin, long, slightly curved blade, and was used by ANBU. Naruto had never really considered it before, but the more he thought about it as he stared at it, the more he found himself wanting one.

He blinked, and then noticed that he was actually walking toward the door. Then, he pushed open the door, and looked at the store. It was obviously a weapons store, with all kinds of weapons, including shuriken, kunai, katana, and even nun-chucks and various other types of weapons. Once again, Naruto saw a row of katana, and found himself staring at the elegant swords.

For some reason, he was suddenly fascinated by the weapon. So, he went with his instinct, and decided to buy one. He found a katana that he thought seemed to be a good one that had a black wrapping handle, and a slender blade that was about medium length compared to the other ones around it. It had no design, just a plain polished silver blade. When Naruto picked it up, he found that it was relatively light for a sword, only about 2 to 3 pounds.

He then found a solid black sheath that fit the katana and, for good measure, got a cloth for cleaning the sword. He then took the items to the desk, placing the katana in the sheath and tying the cloth around the sheath just below the handle of the sword.

"How much?" Naruto asked.

"70,000 yen," the store owner replied nonchalantly.

Naruto's eyes bolted open wide and he almost shouted, but did his best to keep his cool. That was the most expensive thing he had ever tried to buy in his life. He got out his frog wallet and dug for a couple of seconds, pulling out the necessary amount, making the frog wallet significantly thinner.

Naruto laid the money on the table and picked up his sheathed katana.

"Thanks," Naruto muttered.

As Naruto walked out of the store, he fastened the sheath around his back, so that he could pull out his sword with his right hand over his right shoulder. As he pulled out the sword and looked at it, he somehow felt more complete. He grinned as he swung it around a little to get a feel for it. But, he realized, this wasn't the time to get used to it. He had to get away from the city in case the man hadn't been able to take on the Oinin. So he put the katana back in the sheath again, and bolted toward the exit of the city.

He didn't even look behind him as he passed the sign that had introduced him to the small city only a few hours earlier. He took a high jump, and landed on a tree limb, now jumping limb from limb. The moon was eerily bright, and cast shadows from the trees everywhere. For some reason, as Naruto noticed these shadows that weren't always common at night, he felt a strange sense of foreboding, as if he were being followed or something.

Then, as soon as he found himself unable to move, he figured out why he had been feeling the strange foreboding in his mind. He looked down, noticing a darker shadow connecting his feet and then going down the trunk of the tree.

"Kage Mane…Success!" Naruto heard behind him.

As if the Naruto hadn't already figured out why he was suddenly paralyzed, those three words confirmed it. Shikamaru must have been made the leader of a team that was sent to find Naruto. Scenes flashed into Naruto's mind of when Shikamaru was their leader when they went to retrieve Sasuke. These flashbacks only reminded Naruto of his ultimate goal, and why he had temporarily run away from the village in the first place. This strengthened his resolve. He had to find a way out of this without hurting any of his friends.

Then, Naruto heard something that was a bright spot in the whole situation. One word made the entire situation he was in a lot better, and put a grin on his face.

"Why?"

Such a simple word, but the word itself wasn't what brightened up the situation. No, what made Naruto grin was the person that spoke it. Even though he didn't hear the voice often, he could still tell who had asked it immediately.

"Why did you run away from the village?" Ino asked again. "You, the boy who's always strived to be Hokage, who's always loved the village. Why would you become a Nukenin?"

Naruto half ignored the question. He was still happy that Ino was there. That fact made it much easier on him to get her. He would not have to return to Konoha and kidnap her. But he would have to incapacitate her and escape whoever else was there with her. That was still a difficult situation.

As he fought the Kage Mane enough to allow him to turn around, the question started to register in his mind.

"My reasons are my own," he said simply, and his eyes scanned the five people there.

Rock Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Neji were there, all looking at him with confusion plastered on their faces. He knew that they would be confused as to his becoming a Nukenin, but he knew what he was doing was right, and once he completed his mission, they would understand.

Shikamaru, however, had noticed something that none of the others had. Naruto wasn't surprised that he was the first to notice, since he took in all of his surroundings constantly, and formed strategies in his head. Shikamaru, unlike the other four, had noticed Naruto's katana.

"So, let me guess. You are here to take me back to the village?" Naruto asked.

"Obviously," Neji said in a monotone.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I haven't done what I escaped to do yet, so I can't let that happen."

Naruto summoned as much strength as possible, along with his chakra, and started fighting against the Kage Mane. Luckily, he had an extremely large amount of chakra, and that large amount of chakra made him very formidable in a struggle against Shikamaru's jutsu.

Neji had already landed next to Naruto on the branch. He got into his characteristic stance, and Naruto knew exactly what he was going to do. He was planning on hitting Naruto's tenketsu and knocking him unconscious, and then they would take him back to the village. Obviously, Naruto didn't have much of a chance to dodge considering he was trapped in the shadow jutsu.

So, Naruto had to think quickly, at the same time as fighting the Kage Mane. As Neji plunged his hand toward the critical tenketsu that would immediately stop Naruto's chakra flow, Naruto had fought off the Kage Mane enough to put his plan into action. He was able to move his body just a tiny bit to the left, causing Neji to miss the tenketsu. Even though Naruto still felt the pain of the Gentle Fist, it hadn't hit any tenketsu, so it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

Also, Naruto had fought off the jutsu enough to free up his right arm long enough to draw a kunai and send it straight at Shikamaru. He wasn't aiming for a kill, but for a distraction. And it worked. He immediately felt the bind on him disappear, and was able to jump back to a different limb as Neji tried to strike again.

Naruto acted quickly. He quickly formed the cross tiger seal.

"Tajuu: Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Tons of clones appeared everywhere, at least fifty per opponent. Naruto grinned, and braced himself. Once again, he was not aiming for actually pitting his clones against the group, but to distract them long enough for him to grab Ino, knock her out, and get away. But, his plan wasn't working so well. Neji was using his One-Hundred-Twenty-Eight palms, and was quickly disposing of most of Naruto's clones, while Chouji had enlarged his arm and hand, and was swinging it to rid them of the rest of Naruto's clones. The team had obviously already planned a way to take on Naruto's favorite jutsu.

'Crap, with the Kage Bunshin made useless, and the Wind Rasengan impossible to use, how am I supposed to get through this? I guess I have to try it,' Naruto thought.

So, he reached behind him and drew his brand new katana. Just like Asuma, he pumped wind chakra into the sword, lengthening and sharpening the already remarkable blade. He then leapt at his opponents, swinging at their shins, forearms, and other non-vital spots. He managed to hit Chouji's forearm before he could bring it back down to its normal size, and Ino immediately starting using her medical ninjutsu to begin to heal it.

Naruto hated hurting Chouji like that, but it was necessary. He was now down to only three opponents, Lee, Neji, and Shikamaru. All three of them went into action at once. Neji positioned himself in front of Naruto, readying himself once again for the One-Hundred-Twenty-Eight Palm technique, Shikamaru had already begun tracking him down with his shadow, and Lee had almost disappeared in a blur of speed.

Naruto jumped to avoid Neji and Shikamaru's attacks, but was hit in the side by Lee's and was sent flying toward a tree. Naruto quickly put his feet out, and pushed against the tree like a spring, sending himself straight back at the three. In a flash, he stopped pushing chakra into the katana, put it back in its sheath, and formed another shadow clone. He put his hand out, and the clone helped him form the Rasengan there, and then disappeared.

"RASENGAN!" Naruto shouted, managing to plunge the sphere into Neji's left arm.

Before Naruto could land though, Lee was in front of him again, and kicked him in the chest. Naruto flew backwards into a tree, his back slamming into it.

'This is a lot harder than I thought,' Naruto thought.

He then thought of something. He drew a kunai, and darted at Ino, who was still working on healing Chouji. He managed to grab her arm, drawing a yelp from her, and then he pulled her in front of him, grabbing her around the neck and pointing the kunai at her stomach.

"Now," he said calmly, "I really don't want to hurt any of you. All I want is for you to leave me alone and let me do what I've planned to do. I would hate to have to hurt your medic-nin like this, but if you all continue to attack me, it will be my only choice."

"Naruto," Ino gasped quietly, completely surprised at the situation she was facing.

But she didn't know what happened next as she felt a sharp pressure on the back of her neck, and then everything went black.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER, but I'm going to try to finish this story. It's probably my favorite out of all the ones I've written, so I have some motivation to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Ino's eyes slowly fluttered open, and her vision was very blurred. She noticed a lot of green, a lot of blue, and a small orange, black, and tan blur. She closed her eyes again, bringing her hands up to her eyes, and rubbed them furiously, opening them again as things became more in focus.

She saw as the green slowly turned into grass, the blue formed with white clouds as the sky, and the orange, black, and tan blur came into focus as Naruto. Naruto had his orange pants on, with his jacket tied around his waist and a black t-shirt covering his torso. His hair was slightly damp, which she noted was because of sweat, and he seemed a little tired. He had a katana with him, and he seemed to be training his taijutsu, incorporating the katana along with his form.

She had trouble taking in the situation before her memories flooded back to her. Her first instinct was to run, but she was quite sure he could overpower her. Then she noticed confusedly that she wasn't tied up. She was simply lying on the ground on a blanket. That was strange…Naruto had captured her, so why had he not tied her up to prevent her from escaping? Maybe he hadn't expected her to wake up yet…

She cleared her throat to gain his attention, and it worked as he stopped just as he was about to strike a tree with the katana. He seemed to already be getting pretty good with the weapon, despite him only having it for a short time. Though, to be honest, she wasn't really sure how long she had been out, so she wasn't sure how long he had had the weapon. Either way, his taijutsu seemed to mesh with his sword fighting quite well.

As he walked toward her, he polished the blade with a white cloth before securing the sword back in its sheath and setting it on the ground. He pointed at something to her right, which she saw was a small tree stump in front of a fire that had a pot over it. It was then that she noticed the smoke smell…why hadn't she noticed it earlier? Her senses seemed to be off since she had just regained consciousness.

"You can sit there if you want. The food should be done in a few more minutes. I'm sure you're very hungry. You've been out for three days now. I also have some water right there," he indicated pointing to a flat log, on top of which was a large bowl that was filled with water and two cups next to it.

She nodded, ready to ask what the heck happened after she blacked out or yell at him or find out why he had left the village, until she felt her stomach growl, and her feeling of hunger and thirst quickly returned to her. She groaned a bit, wanting to eat something immediately. Since the food wasn't done yet, she settled to just grab one of the cups, fill it with water, and down the whole thing in one gulp. The cold water felt amazing as it trailed down her throat.

She filled it again, and finished it yet again with incredible speed, quenching her thirst as much as possible. The third time she filled it, though, she slowed down a bit, taking a quick sip of it before setting it on the log again.

The food was apparently done, for Naruto was setting a fried fish on a fairly flat rock, which he handed to Ino, the other one he kept for himself.

"I'm sorry, but I was only able to catch two this morning, so this is all we've got for now. I gave you the bigger one, and you can have some of mine if you want. I know how hungry someone can get when they wake up from a long period of unconsciousness. I'm not exactly a stranger to the sensation," he said, grinning.

Ino couldn't suppress a grin, and she also was confused over Naruto's kindness. He obviously wasn't the best at being a missing-nin, or a captor for that matter. So she decided to finally find out what had happened and why Naruto was doing all this…after a couple of bites of fish first. She was starving after all. And the fish actually tasted pretty good.

"So…I have some questions," Ino said, a little softer than she expected.

Why was she being so…soft? She should be yelling at him. Or hitting him. Or something. He had left the village randomly, knocked her out and captured her, and was now acting as if she was his friend or something. The confusion alone infuriated her. Yet, for some reason, she wasn't yelling or showing any sign of anger at all. This added to her confusion.

"Well, I don't see any reason in not answering them. Ask away," Naruto said before taking a bite of his fish.

His readiness to answer also added to her confusion. He had to be the worst captor ever.

"Okay, first of all, what happened in the forest?" she asked, much more demanding this time, which was what she was aiming for.

"Well, I hadn't wanted to fight any of you in the first place, so I was trying to end it quickly without having to hurt anyone. But you all insisted on fighting, so I was forced to injure Choji and Neji. But then I thought of a way to at least slow down the fight and give me more time to think of ways to get out of it without injuring them anymore or injuring Lee or Shikamaru."

"So, I grabbed you and threatened you. Gladly, they took it seriously, because in all actuality, I wouldn't have stabbed you. And then, I had the perfect idea to get away. I quickly threw the kunai I was using to threaten you at them, followed by a few more. This distracted them long enough for me to put my plan into action. I had to knock you out in order to make sure you didn't give me away. And then I quickly formed two clones, transformed them into me and you in the same position we had been in, and then turned and ran."

"So, with them thinking it was still us, and trying to find out how to remedy the situation, I bought enough time to get far enough away. I've been running for two days straight, finally stopping last night to rest," Naruto finished explaining.

Many thoughts occurred to Ino during the explanation. First of all, she felt a little more comfortable with him when he told her about how unwilling he was to hurt them. That meant she didn't have to be constantly on watch for Naruto to randomly attack her. Then, he told her about his plan, which gave her a greater respect for him. She didn't think Naruto would be clever enough to think of a plan that good that quickly. And finally, she was comforted a little more, and confused, as to the fact that he had ran for two days straight, and hadn't just left her anywhere. But that also led to her next question.

"Wait, so you've been running nonstop for two days straight? Why did you bring me with you? The extra weight had to slow you down, if not at least make it harder to keep going for as long. Why didn't you just leave me somewhere? Wouldn't it make it easier for you to get away?" she asked.

"Well, I had two reasons for not just 'leaving you somewhere'. First of all, I actually need your help with something, so I need you to accompany me on my journey. And I'm sorry, but I can't give you a choice on that. It's necessary. And, second of all, even if I didn't need you, I would never just leave you somewhere. You were unconscious and defenseless, so I couldn't just dump you somewhere in the forest where anything or anyone could come along and kill you," he explained matter-of-factly.

She was hit with another swirl of emotions and thoughts as he explained this next thing. First, confusion was building even more, now accompanied with curiosity. He needed her? For what? And she was also rather touched that he cared enough for her to not leave her to die, even though he didn't even know her. Though, she reasoned, that was probably just his good nature, and didn't have anything to do with her. But it still made her feel a little more comfortable with him. It was as if he would be willing to protect her.

"You…need me? Why?" she asked simply.

"Well, I guess this one needs a bit of explanation behind it. To get into that, I have to answer another question that you're probably wondering about, which is why I decided to become a missing-nin. I have decided to go after Sasuke again, and try to bring him back to the village and finally fulfill my promise to Sakura-chan. I can't look to the village to help me with it anymore. Granny Tsunade cares too much about me to let me risk my life to bring back a traitor, and they won't bother assembling another team to try and retrieve him since he's a missing-nin and has been, and is no longer looked at as a member of the village. No one cares about him anymore, but I know there's still good in him. I know I can bring him back," Naruto explained.

"And since he's with Orochimaru, it might be an added bonus if I could manage to kill Orochimaru as well, since he's one of our biggest enemies. But I can't do this without every skill that is available to me. And that is where you come in. I have developed a new jutsu…or rather an improvement on a jutsu I already know. I have managed to pump my own elemental chakra, wind, into my Rasengan. But, since the Rasengan is a jutsu that gathers the chakra in my hand, the wind chakra, which cuts at a pace faster than cell division, it cuts at my own cells, and could kill me."

"But I figured that if I use my left hand to constantly heal my wrist during the Rasengan, on top of my natural regeneration, I can speed up the cell division enough so that the Rasengan won't be dangerous. But the only problem is that I don't know how to use medical jutsus, so I need you to teach me," Naruto finally finished explaining.

"Wow," was all Ino could say.

Again, swirls of emotions and thoughts hit her very quickly through the explanation. She was being given a lot of information that continued to play with her head and her emotions. Finally, all her anger at Naruto had faded. She had no reason to be angry anymore. Everything he had done was backed up by a very good reason. Also, she felt a little bit of jealousy. Naruto still felt that he needed to fulfill his promise to Sakura, even though Sakura still treated him as no more than a friend and blew off any attempt he had at trying to turn their relationship into anything more. Ino wished that a guy loved her as much as Naruto loved Sakura. She wouldn't keep turning him down, especially not if it was someone as attractive as Naruto.

She almost literally slapped herself in the head. When had she EVER thought of Naruto as attractive? Apparently this onrush of information was playing with her head more than she had thought. She just ignored the thought, trying to forget that she ever thought it, and continued thinking about everything that she had just learned. A Wind-based Rasengan?

She had seen Naruto use Rasengan before, and it was an extremely powerful technique already, on par with Sasuke's Chidori. And she had seen Asuma-sensei use wind chakra before, and it was extremely powerful, with a lot of cutting ability, as Naruto had explained. She wondered exactly how powerful the two would be combined.

She then began wondering about what it would be like to travel with Naruto. He seemed to be a better strategist during fighting and powerful enough to take down most opponents, and he also seemed willing to protect her. So she actually felt…safe with him. And he seemed nice enough, so maybe it wouldn't be too terrible to travel with him. Plus, apparently she didn't have a choice in the matter anyway.

"Okay…I'll travel with you and try my best to teach you medical ninjutsu," she said.

"Thank you," Naruto said, smiling.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto put the jacket back on, zipping it up, and then strapped the katana sheath on his back. He dumped the remaining water on the fire to put it out, and put the cups and bowl back in his bag, strapping it to his back as well, over the katana sheath, making sure to leave the handle exposed in case he needed to use it.

"Okay, I'm ready to go," Naruto told Ino, who was sitting on a log, waiting.

She didn't have anything besides her weapons with her, so she didn't have to pack anything before they left. They were now starting to get on the move again, after camping out another day or two where they had stopped. Naruto took out the map and looked at it as they started walking.

"I think we could get to this city before nightfall. There we can buy more supplies and some new clothes so we won't be as recognizable. And we could find a place to stay for the night. Then we could get some breakfast before we head out again," Naruto said pointing to a city.

"Okay. But we shouldn't stay in any city too long. We'll be harder to find if we keep moving and stay in the woods more than in hotels," Ino said.

"I know. This is going to be the last time we stay in a city, so we need to load up on all the supplies we'll need, because we'll probably be on the move for at least a month before we take on Sasuke," Naruto said.

"Is Orochimaru's hideout really that far away?" Ino asked.

"No, if we went straight there, it would only take about two weeks. But we have to take it slower since I have training to do on the way. And I assume that training will take at least a month. Plus, I want to have a good strategy on how to fight them. Me and you together are probably weaker than Sasuke and Orochimaru together, so we need a solid strategy to be able to beat them," Naruto explained.

Ino nodded, thinking that was probably true. If she had to guess, Sasuke was probably at least at the same level of Naruto, but most likely stronger, and there was no way she could compete with a Sannin like Orochimaru. So they would definitely have to think of a solid strategy. Hopefully, she could get some training done herself before they reached Orochimaru's hideout. That way, she would be more up for the task when they faced them.

"So, when do you want to start teaching me medical ninjutsu?" Naruto asked, hoping to start as soon as possible, but not wanting to pressure Ino into doing it immediately.

"I don't know. I think it would be good to just relax for today, and I can start teaching you tomorrow," Ino replied.

"Relax? You don't know me very well, do you?" Naruto said grinning. "Tomorrow is fine with me, but I'll probably still do some training today."

"Do you ever take a break from training?" Ino asked, a little amused.

"Of course not! If I took a break, then I would take longer to become Hokage!" Naruto said with a wide smile.

Ino just rolled her eyes and laughed. Naruto still hadn't given up his dream of becoming Hokage. But he did seem to be very serious about it. Four years ago she would have just thought he was some stupid kid who had dreams of grandeur that he could never reach. He wasn't even a decent ninja, let alone good enough to become Hokage. But he had rapidly gotten stronger after becoming a Genin, which showed when he defeated Kiba and Neji in the Chuunin Exam, and also defeated Gaara in the battle afterward. And then he went away for three years with another Sannin and trained, and there was no telling how much stronger he got during that time. In fact, now that she thought about it, Naruto very well could be stronger than Sasuke.

The rest of the walk continued in an unawkward silence, both in thought. Naruto was thinking about possible strategies. Ino was mainly a medical ninja, but she had her uses offensively as well. Since Sasuke and Orochimaru were unaware of their coming, they had the element of surprise, so they could sneak in and Ino could use her Shintenshin no Jutsu to take over Orochimaru's body, and they could fight together against Sasuke. But they couldn't depend on this for long, considering Orochimaru was probably strong enough to force Ino out of his mind; this meant that they would have to do some training in strengthening Ino's Shintenshin if they wanted to use the strategy.

Chances were that it would take much longer than a month before they were ready to take on Sasuke and Orochimaru. Before they did this, Naruto wanted to learn how to use another elemental type of chakra and learn how to infuse it into his Rasengan as well, to create a dual-elemental Rasengan, and just as another elemental typed Rasengan for another choice to use. Preferably, he wanted to learn water release, since it would be a good counter to Sasuke's fire release jutsu. This would require more intense training with multiple shadow clones, and it would probably still take a long time. But it would be worth it if it would increase his chances of defeating Orochimaru and Sasuke and bringing Sasuke back to the village.

"Naruto, we're here!" Ino said loudly and harshly, snapping Naruto out of his reverie.

Apparently he had been walking aimlessly behind her and had run into her when she stopped at the entrance to the city.

"Oh, sorry Ino. I wasn't paying attention," Naruto said, grinning childishly and scratching the back of his head.

Ino just rolled her eyes and laughed, finding it difficult to stay angry at him. He just looked so cute when he did that…wait, not cute. He looked…she couldn't describe it. She knew cute wasn't the right word for it though. She didn't think of him like that…at all. So she just turned back to the city again and looked at it.

It was a decently sized city, a little smaller than Konoha. She could tell it wouldn't be hard to find a hotel, or a store that they needed to get whatever they were going to get. There were stores all over the place, and from the entrance of the city, she could see at least two hotels already.

"Well, it looks like we picked a good city. We should be able to find everything we need here," Ino said, looking back at Naruto.

"Yup, it sure does. Well, let's get started. We can go ahead and go to the stores first, and then we'll head to the hotel. We should probably get our disguises first, in case any of the Konoha ninjas caught up with us," Naruto said, scanning the city as well.

"Disguises! That means new clothes!!!" Ino exclaimed, a huge smile gracing her face as she grabbed Naruto by the hand and darted into the city, looking for the best clothes shop.

'Oh crap…what have I gotten myself into?' Naruto chastised himself inwardly, still grinning a little at Ino's sudden enthusiasm.

Two hours later, Naruto and Ino stood outside the hotel. They had decided to go ahead and head to the hotel after they shopped for the disguises to go ahead and get changed into them so that they would no longer be recognizable.

Naruto's clothes now consisted of an all black suit similar to Kakashi's, covering everything from his ankles to below his nose, a dark grey flak jacket, and a shiny silver utility belt. His kunai holster was still located on his upper right leg, and his sandals were now a navy blue, instead of royal blue. His bright blonde hair was dyed to a slightly darker blonde and cut shorter. His usually bright blue eyes were disguised by green eye contacts.

Ino had ditched the bandages that she usually wore around her stomach and, only after a long argument with Naruto about its incredibly beauty, the color purple. She now wore a similar outfit to what she used to wear, except that it was tighter fitting and was connected, so it no longer showed off her stomach. It was a somber red color, close to maroon. She wore black gloves, as well as black ninja sandals. She had brushed back her bangs with the rest of her hair and removed her ponytail, letting her hair fall straight, and also curled it a little bit. She was also wearing color contacts, her eyes now an amber color, instead of their equally bright blue.

"Wow, I think these work pretty well. You look quite different," Naruto said, looking at Ino.

He actually blushed a little, which made him already appreciate his new covering of his cheeks. She looked very attractive with her long curled hair and her new deep red clothing that silhouetted her figure quite well. But Naruto was determined not to be caught staring, so after looking at her for a few seconds, he turned and picked up his katana from the bed, strapping it onto his back again.

"I agree. You look very different now. Though I must say, you look way too serious with the black and the green eyes. I liked your bright blue eyes. They suited your personality better," Ino said teasingly, not really noticing that she had actually just complimented Naruto's usual appearance.

Yet, she made sure not to tell Naruto that she actually found the all black and dark jacket very attractive. She didn't know why, but the black just seemed to make Naruto look more mature and stronger. Though, she had been telling the truth when she told him that she liked his blue eyes better. The green eyes just seemed out of place.

"Well, now that we're FINALLY done shopping for clothes, we can get the supplies we need for the future, and get a good night's sleep before we head out tomorrow," Naruto said, making sure to put a heavy, over exaggerated emphasis on the word finally.

Ino laughed and punched him playfully.

"Come on, it only took two hours," she said brightly.

"ONLY two hours?! ONLY?!?! If you add all of the time I've spent shopping in my entire life, you don't even get two whole hours!" Naruto said incredulously.

"Well, you've obviously never been shopping with a girl before," Ino said, laughing.

Ino was surprised by how easily she had been getting along with Naruto. He was very nice and polite, and was actually pretty funny and fun to hang out with. She was beginning to think that travelling with him on this journey wouldn't be too bad. He would be a great friend to have.

"Anyways," Naruto said, rolling his eyes, "we should be able to get everything we need at one store. We already have all the weapons we need, but we do still need some cooking gear, like a pot for boiling water and cooking fish and stuff in, and a few plates and bowls. I don't know about you, but I didn't exactly find the rock taste mixed in with my fish this morning particularly appetizing," Naruto joked.

Ino laughed as they set out towards the nearest cooking store, knowing that it would have the supplies they just mentioned. Three hours later, as the sun began to set, they had finally allotted all of the supplies they had mentioned, plus a few more things they had thought of when they were shopping. Ino reminded Naruto that sleeping bags would be useful, which also helped Naruto to remember that a tent would also be needed. They had also bought a rucksack that they packed everything except one of the sleeping bags in, and was now sitting next to the bed in the hotel room.

Naruto rolled out his sleeping bag and unzipped it, knowing that the gentlemanly thing to do would be to let Ino have the bed, and for him to sleep on the floor. He didn't really mind it that much. He was used to his uncomfortable bed at home, which really was pretty much the same as sleeping on the floor, so it wasn't like he would have to adjust to it.

"You really don't have to sleep on the floor, Naruto. The bed is big enough so that we can both sleep in it without it being weird. You can just sleep above the covers and I'll sleep under them. That way there won't be any accidental touching during the night," Ino said, feeling sorry for Naruto having to sleep on the floor.

"Ino, really, I'll be fine. It'll be a way to get used to sleeping in the sleeping bag on the ground, since that will be what we'll be doing the rest of the mission," Naruto said.

"Well, you're more used to that than I am, so maybe I should sleep on the floor and you should have the bed for the night," Ino retorted.

"Ino, I insist. You take the bed, and I'll sleep on the floor," Naruto said, a look a finality on his face.

Ino sighed in defeat. There was no use continuing to argue. Naruto was too determined to let her have the bed, and she was beginning to realize that Naruto was far too polite to take the bed and make her sleep on the ground. So she gave up, and unstrapped her sandals, and took them off before slipping into the bed under the covers.

Naruto took off his jacket, utility belt, and sandals, and slid inside his sleeping bag, turning on his stomach and bundling up his jacket to use as a pillow. They had the blinds closed to block out the remaining light that was still barely peeking over the horizon. They had decided while they were shopping for clothes that they would go to sleep early in order to get on the move earlier.

"Good night, Ino," Ino heard almost an hour later, when she was in the limbo between wakefulness and sleep.

She wasn't sure if she was dreaming it or had actually heard it, so she just replied with a, "Mmhmm," and fell completely to sleep.

Naruto grinned at the reply he got before closing his eyes, and quickly fell to sleep as well.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Ah, my mistake Befread. It's fixed now.

Naruto got up very early, while it was still pitch black outside. He let out a long yawn, and then rubbed his eyes, blinking away the blur as he looked at the clock on the wall. It was four o'clock, which surprised him at first, but then he remembered that they had gone to sleep very early the night before, so that would explain why he was up so early.

He looked over at Ino, who was still fast asleep in the bed. Since he didn't want to wake her, he got up as quietly as possible, and slipped into the bathroom. Since they hadn't bought any soap, shampoo, or towels, he had to use all of the supplies that the hotel provided when he took his shower. He felt very clean as he got out of the shower since he had been unable to take one for the past few days.

Ino's eyes fluttered open to see the dark ceiling above her. She glanced at the window, which revealed that it was still dark outside. As she sat up she stretched and yawned, thinking about where Naruto might have been as she noticed his sleeping bag was empty. She then got her answer as she looked towards the bathroom and Naruto walked out in just a towel. His torso was quite a bit more muscular than she would've thought, and his stomach was covered in what was very close to a six-pack.

She made a small squealing noise as she looked away quickly and covered her eyes.

"Sorry," she said in a voice much higher than she usually used.

"Oh, umm, I thought you were still asleep," Naruto said awkwardly, as he blushed furiously and rushed to get his clothes and return back to the bathroom.

Ino giggled a little bit at the situation, but nonetheless got out of the bed and waited for Naruto to get done so she could get a shower. When he walked out of the bathroom this time, he had his new black suit on, covering his entire body, but had the mask part pulled down around his neck for the moment.

"Well, that's much better," Ino said, giggling.

"Don't act like you didn't like it," Naruto said in a mock-conceited voice.

"Whatever. In your dreams," Ino replied, winking at him jokingly as she passed him on her way into the bathroom.

Naruto shook his head, grinning, as he walked to get the rest of his clothes and Ino shut the bathroom door behind her. He strapped his katana to his back, slipped on his flak jacket, and wrapped the utility belt around his waist, buckling it near his right hip. He pulled up the mask part to cover his face, and proceeded to pack up his sleeping back.

"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm a little more clothed than you were," Ino joked as the bathroom door opened.

"Oh darn," Naruto replied jokingly, as he turned around to see her fully clothed.

"So, are you ready to go?" Naruto asked, his voice switching to a more serious tone.

"Ready when you are," Ino replied, strapping her kunai holster around her right thigh.

"Well, then let's head out. We're lucky that we still haven't run into any more hunter-nin. I say we can run for a good bit of time, and around noon or so, we can stop to eat and then train, if that sounds good to you," Naruto explained.

"Yeah, I did say I'd start training you today. Well, I'm fine with that plan," Ino said, smiling.

"Great. Let's get going," Naruto said.

He grabbed the key and the rucksack, and they went down to the lobby, where they checked out. The cashier told them to have a great day as they left and headed east. For the first hour or so of running, they didn't talk to each other much. Naruto decided to break the silence, as it was starting to make him a little uncomfortable.

"So, can you teach me anything about the theory of medical ninjutsu?" he asked.

"Sure. Medical ninjutsu, above all, takes a very precise amount of chakra control. The user has to be able to locate the injury, and focus the exact amount of chakra around that exact point, and the chakra will help to fill the wound. Basically, all you have to learn is a good amount of chakra control, and the ability to excrete that chakra from your hands. The most common and useful medical technique that I know is the Mystical Palm Technique," Ino explained.

"Oh…great," Naruto let out with a sigh. "I suck at chakra control."

"I don't know about that. I think you may just be better than you think. That Rasengan of yours, Tsunade-sama has told me about it. Apparently Jiraiya-san told her that it takes a good bit of chakra control, bringing together a necessary amount of chakra to a focused point. That's how medical ninjutsu works, but just to a much higher precision. You judge the severity of the injury, match the amount of chakra you need to use to that severity, and then bring it out and focus it to the point of the injury."

"So, in your case, you are constantly healing something that is constantly deteriorating. So, we have to figure out ahead of time just how severe the injury would be, and then figure out how much chakra would be necessary to continuously heal it. Now, cells getting cut is a very serious injury, so I would assume that you would have to continue using up a rather large amount of chakra," Ino continued, shooting Naruto a nervous glance, having just informed him that it might not be possible to do what he wants to do.

"It's okay. One of my strongest points is that I have a very large amount of chakra, so running out won't be a problem unless I would have to use the Wind Rasengan multiple times," Naruto said, shrugging off what would be a pretty big problem for most people.

"Okay, then that's good. And obviously, the injury is in your wrist cells. We already know that. So I just need to teach you how to channel the right kind of chakra into your hands, the chakra control, and the amount of chakra to release. So, hopefully, it won't take long," Ino explained with a smile.

That was definitely good news. Naruto didn't want to have to spend too much time learning the medical ninjutsu since he also wanted to learn another type of elemental chakra manipulation. They continued running for another hour or so until they reached a clearing.

"Ah, this looks like a good place to train for a while," Naruto said, stopping.

Ino stopped beside him as he dropped the rucksack to the ground. But then he seemed to tense up randomly, and Ino noticed his hand reaching for his katana.

"What's wro-," she started, but his hand covered up her mouth, muffling the rest of the word.

He removed his hand again, shushing her to make sure she didn't say anything again. He slowly drew the katana from its sheath to make sure it didn't make a sound. Ino was wondering why he was doing this. She hadn't heard anything or noticed any movement, but Naruto was acting like there was someone or something around them. Then, she heard it; a very faint rustling to her left. She quickly drew a kunai and threw it in that direction. She heard it go through the leaves, but nothing else. She didn't hear a thunk as if it hit something, or a clanging of metal as if it were deflected. That was strange.

"What is that?" she whispered to Naruto, pointing at a weird-looking clay bug on the ground.

"Crap!" he exclaimed, grabbing her around the waist with his free arm and leaping away from the spot, kicking the rucksack away as well.

Apparently, she had asked at precisely the right time. As she was jerked away from the clay bug, it exploded. She felt a little heat on her back, but luckily no pain came along with it, so they narrowly avoided the explosion. They skidded to a stop, and she saw Naruto looked confused but determined at the same time.

"I thought you were dead," he yelled out to nowhere in particular.

Ino was thoroughly confused. Who was Naruto yelling at, and how did he know that the bug was going to explode? Then, he saw a blonde-headed person walking out. He had his hair tied in a pony tail and bangs covering his left eye. She did, however, recognize the cloak he was wearing. The black cloak with red clouds on it symbolized that the person was from Akatsuki.

"While you and Sharingan Kakashi did give me quite a bit of trouble, you weren't able to kill me," Deidara said.

"Now, I would've never expected the Leaf Village to let you go out alone with some weakling like that. They're practically begging you to get captured," Deidara said, an evil grin on his face.

Naruto didn't bother explaining the situation. He leapt at Deidara, swinging his katana at him. He dodged, but Naruto pumped wind chakra into the blade, extending it. The wind chakra reached Deidara, leaving a cut in his stomach. But then the body turned white. Naruto swore under his breath. It was just a clone. Now he had no idea where Deidara was, but Deidara knew where they were.

He then noticed another white bug near him, and leapt away from it, avoiding the ensuing explosion. He landed on a tree branch, and looked around. He no longer had any idea where Ino was, and still had no idea where Deidara was. This wasn't good at all. He then heard another rustling in the leaves, and leapt towards the spot, not attacking yet in case it was Ino. But it wasn't. It was Deidara. So he swung his katana at him again. This time, Deidara ducked, knowing that Naruto could extend the blade with wind chakra. He then kicked at Naruto's hand, knocking the katana away.

He then spun and punched Naruto in the stomach. Naruto was about to dodge, but he then noticed Ino in a branch above him out of the corner of his eye. He took the punch, but then grabbed Deidara by the wrist, and Ino jumped from the branch, kicking at Deidara's face. Deidara was able to bend backwards to avoid the kick, and then kicked Naruto's elbow, forcing him to let go of him.

He jumped back, reaching into the case on his waist for more clay. Naruto quickly formed the cross tiger seal.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," he said, and a clone appeared next to him.

He reached back his hand, and starting gathering chakra, letting the clone keep it in the form of a sphere.

"Don't think the same technique will work on me this time," Deidara said, a smirk on his face.

Naruto ignored him and leapt toward him when the Rasengan was done forming, plunging his hand towards Deidara. Deidara acted quickly, taking out his hand and forming a clay wall. The Rasengan plunged into the wall, but it was too thick, and it didn't reach all the way through. What was worse is that it made it deep enough that Naruto's hand partially went into it, and the clay formed tightly around Naruto's hand. He tried to jerk it out, but wasn't able to.

"NARUTO!" Ino yelled out in fright.

Naruto turned to see Deidara coming at him, his foot aimed at his face. Naruto tried again to jerk his hand out of the clay, but to no avail. Deidara's foot connected with his face, and a shooting pain erupted in his cheek. He felt his feet leave the tree branch, and heard a sickening crack somewhere around his elbow as his body was sent flying, but was kept in place by the hand that was still stuck in the clay. He was now hanging limply from the clay wall with a bloody nose and a broken arm.

"Now, this is useful. I'll be rewarded greatly within Akatsuki for bringing in the infamous Kyuubi, even though I wasn't even assigned to him," Deidara said menacingly from a tree branch behind Naruto.

Ino leapt toward Deidara, aiming a quick punch at his face, which he easily dodged. She then leapt back a few feet to dodge a kick. She then threw a fistful of hairs at the space in between them, and slammed her hands on the branch, and pumped chakra into her hair.

"What the-" Deidara exclaimed as he noticed he could no longer move.

Ino had used the same trick she had used against Sakura in the Chuunin exam. She pumped chakra through her hair that trapped Deidara, not letting him move from his spot. Now she formed the strange seal and prepared to use Shintenshin no Jutsu.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter," Deidara muttered, forming half of the ram hand seal with his right hand.

Ino looked around as to why he did this, and saw it just in time; another clay bug was right next to her. She quickly stopped pumping chakra into her hair and leapt away, barely avoiding the explosion. Then clay hit her in the back, forcing her into a tree. She noticed she couldn't move. Deidara had used clay to pin her to the tree.

"Well, now I have you both captured. However, unfortunately for you, I don't need you to be alive," Deidara told Ino menacingly, walking toward her with a kunai in his hand.


	7. Chapter 7

"DON'T DO IT YOU SON OF A-" Naruto yelled.

Ino had never heard his voice like that. She could hear a sense of frustration, utmost hatred, and worry all at once. But what cut him off was a loud clanging of metal. Ino managed to turn her head around just enough to see what had happened. Deidara's kunai had apparently been hit out of his hand by another kunai, as two kunai lay on the ground a couple of feet from Deidara.

Ino couldn't see who had done it, and apparently neither could Deidara. He was looking around with a slightly insane look in his eyes. His hair had gotten messy and he was breathing very heavily, his head shooting from side to side to see what was going on. Then, from out of nowhere she heard a loud voice.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!"

There was suddenly a huge amount of water tearing through the forest, blasting Deidara off his feet, and eventually pinning him into the tree. Out of nowhere came a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties with decently long black hair and a short but stocky stature. He flashed through a few quick seals before thrusting his head forward.

"Katon: Karyu Endan!"

Bright orange flames hit the water, causing all of it to quickly turn to steam. Deidara let out an extremely loud yell as the steam started to burn his flesh. The man formed his hands into the tiger seal, and used another technique.

"Doton: Doryu Taiga!"

The ground under Deidara turned into very moist mud and Deidara sank a few feet, only his shoulders and above being left exposed. Finally, the man flashed through another quick set of seals, this one a little longer than the last.

"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu!"

Finally, the remaining water took the form of a shark, and attacked Deidara, completely knocking him out. The man then took on a completely different manner. Before, he was completely serious, and now he just seemed like a normal, happy guy who might have just won a game or something.

"Here, let me help you two out of this stuff," the man said kindly.

"Raiton: Kangekiha," the man said, and a wave of lightning passed by Ino, destroying the clay that was binding her to the tree.

Now that she was finally free, she was able to turn around and get a better look at the man. He was dressed in a vibrant green jumpsuit and a black flak jacket. He had on dark green gloves and ninja sandals on. He formed the rabbit seal and reused the same technique that he had used to free Ino, this time sending it toward Naruto, who was able to grab the tree branch with his uninjured hand, and then jump and land safely on the ground.

Then, as if he wasn't even hurt, he looked at the older man with awe, completely ignoring that he had blood all over his face and that his arm was already quite swollen.

"You…you saved us! Thanks a lot! And you can use FOUR of the five elemental types! That's insane!!!" he said hectically, practically bouncing with excitement.

"He's right. You did save us. Thank you very, very much. We are indebted to you," Ino said, bowing deeply to him.

"Oh, no, no, it's alright," the guy said, chuckling at Naruto's very bright face. "I've been tracking down Akatsuki for quite a while now. One of my dearest friends is a bijuu, and his life has been very troublesome because of Akatsuki hunting him down."

Naruto's bright face suddenly become rather downcast. He had known that same pain that this man was talking about. He had hated Akatsuki for a long time now. First, they came and tried to kidnap him while he and Jiraiya were on their way to find Tsunade. And then they kidnapped Gaara, one of his greatest friends. But he couldn't let Ino see him in such a sad state. She would start asking questions, and he didn't want her to know what was sealed inside him. The only person he had ever actually told was Sakura, and he only did that because he loved her and because it was relevant to the mission they were on.

So he hid his sad expression by covering it up with his awed look again. It wasn't very difficult to do. He had done it a lot as a kid, and he really was in awe of this guy. He had quickly and handily knocked out Deidara, and had used four different elemental types, when most people only knew two, three in very rare cases.

"So, you look like you've got some problems there. Sorry, but I don't know any medical ninjutsu," said the man.

"That's alright. I'm a medic. I can heal him up. Give me your arm," Ino said gently.

"By the way, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Yamanaka Ino," Naruto said as he held out his arm to Ino.

"My name is Senshu Okuno. It's nice to meet you," the man replied, holding out his hand, which Naruto shook with his free hand while Ino rolled back his sleeve and began healing.

Her hands felt cold at first and the pain seemed to peak, but when she began healing it, it felt very warm and painless. It actually brought a grin to his face. The effect was very freeing and comforting. At that moment, he felt some strange connection to Ino that he had never felt before, and found himself gazing into her eyes. He shook it off, knowing it was just the effect of the healing ninjutsu being used on him.

After Ino finished healing Naruto and cleaned up the blood on his face, they sat down and had a nice conversation and dinner with the man. Ino was going to heal Naruto's nose, which she found out was fractured after a little bit of examination, but he protested, saying he could practice his medical ninjutsu on that injury once the man left.

"Thanks for the miso shiru, Okuno!" Naruto happily exclaimed, downing the soup quickly.

"You're welcome," the man said, chuckling.

He had provided the dinner of miso shiru for all three of them. It was very good, and a good treat, since they had been expecting to eat more fish that night. Naruto just made sure not to get used to it, because the chances that this was going to happen again were one in a million. They spent the next hour eating and having a happy conversation about themselves. Okuno didn't tell much about himself, no matter how many times Naruto asked him how the heck he had learned how to utilize four of the elemental types of chakra.

"It just took a lot of hard work," he would say with a laugh.

After the first four or five times, Naruto just gave up and they continued on with a normal conversation. After they finally finished dinner, Okuno hoisted the unconscious Deidara over his shoulder, and left with a wave goodbye, and a good luck on their journey.

"So, are you ready to try to heal your nose?" Ino asked Naruto.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Naruto replied with a bright smile.

"Okay, place your hand gently on your nose, and constantly release a little bit of chakra. Remember you have to keep it in perfect check…you have to release the perfect amount of chakra, and keep it at a constant rate," Ino explained.

Naruto nodded, and took a deep breath in, and let it out slowly. He raised his right hand up to his nose, and touched it very lightly, not wanting to put any pressure on it since it was already injured. He closed his eyes and focused on his hand all he could, and then let a little bit of chakra flow through it. He felt the familiar warm feeling, but not the painlessness. So he pumped in a little bit more chakra, and then he felt the painlessness for a little bit, but then his nose started to start getting hot.

He quickly pulled his hand away from his nose, and felt the warm liquid below it. He had made it start bleeding again.

"It's okay; you did pretty well for your first try. You had it going pretty good for a while. Hold on," Ino said, pulling a small rag out from the rucksack they had.

She walked over to a small pond in the clearing and dipped it in it, and then pressed it on Naruto's face, soaking up the blood. After she kept the pressure on it for long enough, the bleeding stopped. She then washed off the rag and rung it out, putting it back in the rucksack after it had dried. She then put her hand lightly on his nose, and started healing it. He again felt the amazing sense of painlessness in his nose, and the warm feeling returned again. Just like last time, he found himself gazing into Ino's eyes with an intense feeling of belonging.

He once again forced the feeling out of his head, knowing that it was just the healing. After a minute or two, she took her hand away, and his nose felt much better. He then pulled his mask, which had fallen down around his neck when Deidara had kicked him, back over his face.

"Thank you, Ino. Now, do you want to just stay here for the night, or keep moving?" Naruto asked her, since it was beginning to get dark.

"I think it would be best to stay here. If we start moving, it might get too dark before we find a good clearing to stop at," Ino replied.

"That's a good point. Well let's get set up," Naruto said, bringing out the tent from the rucksack.

"Hmm…this doesn't seem like it's going to be easy," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head as he looked at all the tent fabric and poles and stakes.

"Didn't it come with instructions?" Ino asked.

"Hmm…instructions…so THAT was what was on that paper that I threw away. Yeah, that could've been helpful in this situation," Naruto said, grinning innocently.

"Come on, let's just try to figure it out," Ino said, rolling her eyes and laughing, finding it really difficult, as always, to get mad at him.

They spent about two hours putting up the tent, finally finishing as the last bit of sunrays fell behind the horizon. Naruto wasn't really very tired at all, so he decided that he could make a fire and do some training or something before they went to bed. So he went through the woods gathering firewood for a bit, and stacked a little bit of it up and grabbed two twigs. On top of the firewood and piled up some dead leaves, and then rubbed the twigs together on top of the leaves until it started to burn a little. He then got down and blew on them lightly, and finally the leaves caught fire, and then so did the firewood.

"Wow, when did you learn that?" Ino asked, impressed.

"Kakashi taught me a while back in some survival training, since I couldn't use a Katon element jutsu to set it on fire," Naruto explained, admiring his work.

"Well, it looks pretty good," Ino said, sitting down in front of the fire and taking off her gloves, warming her hands in front of the fire.

"I think so, too. You wouldn't even be able to tell that it wasn't made with a Katon jutsu," Naruto said, smirking proudly.

"Okay, don't get too bigheaded," Ino said laughing.

"Oh, I'm not being bigheaded. I just know a good fire when I see one," Naruto said, holding his head high and feigning cockiness; Ino just rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, in all seriousness, did you really think I did good earlier with the medical ninjutsu, or were you just sparing my feelings," Naruto asked a little unconfidently.

"Yes, yes you did fine. I promise," Ino said in a voice with a little bit of pity in it.

She scooted over a little closer to him and grabbed his hand.

"Look, you did a lot better than I did on my first try. On my first try, I made the wound worse almost immediately. It was pretty embarrassing," Ino explained, reminiscing on her days in medical training.

"Wow, that definitely makes me feel better. So you still think I'll eventually be able to get the hang of it?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto, I _know_ you'll be able to get the hang of it," Ino replied, surprising herself as she said it.

That made Naruto feel very confident with himself. And it also sent another feeling through his stomach that made it feel as if butterflies were flying around inside it. He suddenly became very aware that he and Ino were holding hands, and his face started to flush. He didn't really know what to do, but didn't want the moment to end either. They stayed there for a long time in comfortable silence, looking at the fire. Then Naruto felt Ino's head fall onto his shoulder, and could tell by her rhythmic breathing that she was asleep. He unconsciously leaned his head on top of hers and continued to look at the fire, wondering why he was suddenly starting to like Ino.


	8. Chapter 8

Naruto's eyelids fluttered open. Ino was still asleep on his shoulder and the fire was barely flickering anymore. Naruto very slowly got up, supporting Ino's side so that she didn't fall over and wake up. He then slowly slipped his other arm under her legs and gently lifted her. He carried her into the tent and set her on her sleeping bag. He then, as quietly as he could, left the tent and threw a few more logs on the fire, causing it to get bigger.

He then decided he could start training in obtaining a new elemental type of chakra. He had thought about it quite a bit since he first had the idea, and he still wanted to learn to use the Suiton type. He had seen many people use it, and it seemed extremely useful. Also, it was obviously a good match against Sasuke's Katon type. So if he learned the Suiton type, he'd have the Futon type to go against Sasuke's Raiton, and the Suiton type to go against Sasuke's Katon. That way, he would have a very good chance of defeating Sasuke once they finally faced off.

So, he tried to remember how he trained to use the Futon element. For the first step, he had to split a leaf in half with just his chakra. So, for using the Suiton element, he probably needed to make the leaf become wet with just his chakra. He knew he couldn't use a thousand clones like last time because he couldn't risk the Kyuubi getting out when Yamato wasn't there. So, in order to keep that risk in check, he decided he would just use fifty clones.

With that in mind, he took in a deep breath, and formed his hands in the extremely familiar cross tiger seal. He closed his eyes and focused the chakra, making sure he did what was necessary to create fifty clones and no more.

"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he said, as multiple clones appeared around him.

The clones all jumped to various trees, grabbing one leaf each. They all reconvened again with their leaves in their hands, all focusing their chakra on the leaf, trying to make it get wet. Naruto didn't exactly know how to try to get it to get wet, but he also didn't really have any advice when he first started working on splitting the leaf in half. It just felt like he had always known. But this training wasn't progressing as well. He hadn't gotten any of the leaves wet at all, but had only managed to cut some of them in half by accident.

After over an hour, Naruto had still not made any progress. He decided to give up for the night, as he was starting to feel exhausted, and knew that once he dispersed his clones, he would be much more exhausted. Also, since he had not made any progress, he decided to stop by a town somewhere while they were on the move the next day to see if he could get any scrolls that might give some tips about learning Suiton control.

He left his clones outside of the tent, and walked in alone, taking off his flak jacket and slipping his mask down. He slipped off his shoes and climbed into his sleeping bag, and then dispersed his clones. As he had expected, he felt a huge wave of exhaustion and fell asleep almost immediately.

He was awoken the next morning by a very frightened Ino. He rubbed his eyes groggily, wondering why she was looking so anxious.

"What's up?" he said, blinking away the blurriness in his eyes and pulling his mask up around his nose.

"I think I heard something outside," she said in a hurried and hushed voice.

Naruto bolted up, the situation jolting his senses into overdrive. He quickly jumped out of his sleeping bag and threw on his flak jacket, also quickly strapping on his kunai holster and ninja sandals. He then slowly snuck outside, looking all around, straining his ears to hear something. His senses, however, seemed to be failing him at the moment. He couldn't see anyone or heard a think besides the light breeze around him.

"Okay, I can't see anyone anywhere. Let's pack up while we can. Maybe we can get out of here without a fight," Naruto whispered.

They hurriedly folded up the tent and stuffed their sleeping bags into the rucksack. It only took a few minutes, and as soon as they were packed, they headed out. As they were on the move, Naruto checked the map, and found a town that was a little while away.

"I was thinking we could stop at this town. I need to see if I can find any scrolls on the Suiton element, and it would help shake off the tail if we can blend in with all the people there," Naruto said, pointing at the town that he was thinking about.

"That sounds like a good plan to me. And why do you need to find scrolls on the Suiton element? I thought you used the Futon element…" Ino said inquisitively.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Since my Futon jutsu are weak against Sasuke's fire element, I figured that I should learn the Suiton element as well before fighting him so that all my jutsu won't be useless against him," Naruto explained.

"Futon's weak against Katon?" Ino asked inquisitively.

It suddenly dawned on Naruto that Ino probably didn't know about all the elemental chakra's weaknesses and strengths. Being a medical nin, she wouldn't have had to learn any elemental chakra, especially not at the level she was at. Naruto just tended to expect everyone to know things he knew, as that was usually how it went.

"Yeah. There are five basic elemental types: Futon, Raiton, Doton, Suiton, and Katon. In that order, they kind of make a circle as to what is strong against what. Futon is strong against Raiton, which is strong against Doton, which is strong against Suiton, which is strong against Katon, which is strong against Futon. And, if the circle is going the other way, they are all weak against each other," Naruto explained, straining to remember what Kakashi and Yamato had taught him.

"Basic types?" Ino asked, still taking in all the information.

"Yeah, there are more types. But, they all can only be achieved through Kekkei Genkai. Some Kekkei Genkai allow the user to mix two types to form another element. For example, Yamato can combine Suiton and Doton to create Wood Element, Mokuton and Haku, someone I fought a long time ago, could combine Suiton and Futon to create Ice Element, Hyoton. I think there are a lot of others, but those are the only ones that I've ever seen or heard of," Naruto finished.

"Kekkei Genkai. I see. That's pretty interesting. So how did you know to learn Futon?" Ino asked.

"Well, everyone has a natural affinity to one element, and then can choose to learn others. Kakashi had these special paper things that tell you your natural element. If you pump a little chakra into it, it reacts differently depending on what element you use. It crumples up if you use Raiton, becomes wet if you use Suiton, turns into ash if you use Katon, turns into dirt if you use Doton, and it splits in half if you use Futon. Mine split in half, so I trained with Futon," Naruto explained, thinking of the times he trained with his elemental jutsu and missing Kakashi.

"Well, here we are," Ino said as they stopped at the entrance into the town.

They walked into the town inconspicuously, trying to blend in with the other townspeople walking around. Naruto kept his eyes open for a weapons shop. After a couple of minutes of walking around the town, he finally spotted one, and he and Ino walked into it.

Ino decided she would look for more kunai and shuriken while Naruto searched for Suiton scrolls. He had to walk around for a couple of minutes in the large shop before finding the section where are the scrolls were. He looked at all the various scrolls and the titles on them. He finally found one labeled _Suiton Element, The Beginning_ and another titled _Basic Suiton Element Jutsus_. He figured it couldn't hurt to add a few more jutsu to his arsenal than Rasengan and Kage Bunshin.

So he took the scrolls off the shelf and met Ino at the counter. She had gotten five new shuriken and five new kunai. They both paid for their items, and left the store. Ino put her new weapons in her holster, while Naruto struggled to fit the two scrolls in the rucksack, eventually winning the struggle and tying the rucksack.

"Okay, now time to get on the move again," Naruto said as he threw the rucksack around his back again.

They meandered their way through out the town again, finding the entrance, and then leapt back into the forest, making their way around the town, and then heading in the direction of Orochimaru's hideout again.

"So, I was thinking that I need to do some training as well. My dad recently had been showing me ways to make the Shintenshin stronger and travel through the air faster. If I practice that enough, I can take over Orochimaru, incapacitating him for your fight with Sasuke, and then I can pull out of his body and we can team up on him after you're done fighting with Sasuke," Ino said.

"I was actually thinking the same thing. And you've got the perfect practice partner. I'm very strong-willed, so if you can keep me under your control, you could probably keep anyone under control," Naruto said, flashing a bright smile.

"Great. So, when do you want to stop and train? About lunch time?"

"Yeah, we can keep on the move until lunch and then stop, set up camp, eat lunch, train for a while, eat dinner and get to sleep. I think we could actually stick with that plan from here on out. That way we get a good amount of training and moving done each day," Naruto said.

"That sounds like a good plan to me," Ino replied.

They continued to leaping from tree to tree for a couple of hours, finally stopping in a clearing when the sun was high in the sky and they were both feeling pretty hungry. Ino was breathing heavily while Naruto still looked like he could run forever, but was sweating since it was getting pretty hot.

"How do you have so much stamina?" Ino asked, clutching her side.

"I dunno. I just train a lot," Naruto replied matter-of-factly.

They set up the tent a lot quicker than the night before, now having a decent grasp on how to do so since they now had some experience in the matter.

"Now, time to get some food," Naruto said, grabbing a pot and searching the landscape for a river, since he liked fish more than venison.

Luckily, he found a river about a mile away from camp, so he rolled up the leggings on the suit he wore, and waded into the river. He looked around and saw many dark shadows moving around under the water. He waited carefully, following one, and plunged his hand under water to catch it. He threw the fish on the grass, and then started to follow another of the shadows. He continued this process until he had 4 fish. He then filled the pot with the river's water, and headed back to camp.

When he returned, he saw that Ino had already gotten a fire going.

"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked, impressed.

"I just did what you did yesterday. It took a while, but I finally managed to do it," she replied, smiling.

"Awesome! Well, luckily, this river had more fish than the last one, so I got four, and I can go back and get some more if we need more," Naruto said, setting the fish in a pan and positioning it over the fire.

He also grabbed the two cups that they had, and poured some of the water into each, handing one of them to Ino, and setting his on the ground next to him.

"So I'm guessing that Kakashi's survival training is also where you learned how to catch fish and cook them and all that other stuff?" Ino asked as the waited for the fish to cook.

"Yup. He knew there was a good chance that we'd have to wander the woods in many missions that we'd end up doing, so he gave us survival training so that we'd be prepared when it happened. Apparently he was right, because the training is definitely coming in handy now," Naruto said as he flipped the fish over.

"It really is, since I certainly don't know how to do any of this stuff. Asuma always focused training us in battle and teamwork," Ino said.

"Yeah, Kakashi always stressed the importance of teamwork as well. Sasuke and I never got along, though, so he failed," Naruto said, laughing.

They continued to talk about how their masters had trained them, and various missions that they had gone on as the fish finished cooking and they ate. Ino was shocked that they had faced someone like Zabuza and Haku so early on in their ninja careers.

"Yeah, we weren't really supposed to. But the guy didn't have much money, so he pretended that it was just an escort mission so that he could afford it. Kakashi was the only reason we survived. He's incredible. He was able to beat Zabuza one-on-one, and then Haku pretended he was an Oinin the first time, and we believed him. But then when they confronted us the second time, he revealed himself as Zabuza's ally. Kakashi battled Zabuza while Sakura protected the Old Man, and Sasuke and I tried to fight Haku. Haku was too strong for us though. He would've killed us, but Kakashi was about to lay the final blow on Zabuza, and Haku left our fight to take the blow for him.

"Haku died because of it, but, luckily, because of what happened, Zabuza underwent a change of heart. A lot of Gato's men showed up to finish us off since Zabuza and Haku failed, and Zabuza died fighting them all. It was quite a fitting end for a ninja, but I still wish he would have survived," Naruto finished.

"Wow, that's intense," Ino said, looking at Naruto in awe.

"Yeah, Kakashi was an awesome master. I miss him a lot," Naruto said.

At that moment, he thought he might have heard a sound in the bushes somewhere, but after straining his ears for a couple of minutes after and hearing nothing else, he decided to ignore it.

"Anyway, now that we're done eating, you wanna start training?" Naruto asked.

"Yup. Let's get started," Ino replied.


	9. Chapter 9

"So, where do you want to start? Your mind training or my medical training?" Naruto asked.

"Well, if you don't mind, I think we could start my mind training. I've been really anxious to try it, and you've also been doing well so far in your medical training, so I don't think you need to train as much as I do," Ino said kind of sheepishly, not wanting Naruto to think that she thought her training was more important.

"Of course I don't mind, Ino. We're a team, and we both have to train," Naruto said, flashing a bright smile.

"Okay, great," Ino said, looking relieved. "Okay, well first I want to train on trying my best to overpower the mind, and I'll work on moving towards the target faster some other time. So stay still, please," she said, getting ready.

"Will do," Naruto said, getting serious as he prepared his mind.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino said forcefully after forming a square with her hands.

As soon as the jutsu hit him, Naruto felt a very odd sensation. Suddenly, everything in his field of vision disappeared, and all he saw was blackness. Then he felt eerily amazing. And pain he had felt left his body, and he was filled with happiness such as he had never felt before. He was in an amazing mood and felt extremely agreeable all of the sudden.

Then, somewhat unexpectedly, Ino was standing in front of him, the only thing he could see from all the darkness. She was smiling very happily, and Naruto felt like anything she might ask, he was going to do without question.

'_Wait, no. You have to resist. Stop grinning, you idiot!_' he told himself.

The grin on his face faltered a bit.

"_Okay, now…would you be so kind as to walk a couple of steps forward for me?_" Ino's voice came out very differently than he had ever heard it, yet he felt that he should definitely obey, and he would be rewarded.

"_Of course_," he replied happily.

He walked forward accordingly, and the happiness inside him burst higher, making him in an even better and more agreeable mood.

'_Way to give in, you idiot! Apparently this jutsu works with a reward-based reinforcement. The more you obey it, the harder it gets to resist_,' Naruto thought.

"_Good job! Now, jump as high as you can, please_," Ino said, a bright smile gracing her features.

Naruto was already bending his knees, ready to obey, but then he caught himself.

'_No, don't do it! You can resist! You're stronger than this!_' he encouraged his inner self.

And, he was able to resist. Instead of jumping, he slowly straightened out his knees again, his feet never leaving the ground. He then felt a sharp pain in his stomach.

'_So the jutsu also works on a negative reinforcement system as well. Every time you receive an order, your reaction sparks something inside the jutsu to push you to obey the next one. The longer this jutsu lasts, the more effective it's going to be. We're just going to have to somehow push her out of our mind_,' Naruto thought.

With that thought in mind, before she could give another suggestion, he leapt towards her, arms outstretched in an attempt to tackle her. Suddenly her image disappeared, and Naruto fell to the ground. When he stood back up again, she was in front of him like before.

'_Hmm, so she controls herself that well inside this jutsu. Gosh, how was Sakura able to get out of this thing…let's see, try to remember. I was encouraging her, shouting at her to do her best to fight it. But that's not very helpful. I already know it's predicated on willpower. But how do I show that willpower inside the jutsu?_' he wondered.

"_Now, I ask you again. Please jump as high as you can_," Ino asked again.

"_I'm sorry. I don't know why I didn't earlier_," he replied, the words falling out of his mouth before he could stop them.

And before he could stop himself, he jumped into the air. Yet again, he felt incredible. The pain that hit his stomach earlier was forgotten, and he was smiling happily.

"_Aww, you're so sweet_," Ino said innocently, making Naruto want to obey her again.

'_No, snap out of it! This is all just the work of her jutsu! It's all unreal! You have to break out!_' his mind butted in again.

"_You're right, this is all fake!_" he said aloud.

"_What?_" Ino asked, a look of worry on her face.

"_This isn't real! This is just your jutsu! But I'm stronger than this. Get out of my mind!_" he shouted.

Suddenly, her image started to fade.

"_Yeah, that's right! Leave! Get out of here! This is my mind and I have control over it!_" Naruto shouted again.

Ino's image continued to fade slowly as she started to back away, and Naruto advanced on her, and with all of his willpower, forced her out of his mind.

"_GET OUT OF MY MIND!_" he shouted, and suddenly, he was back in their campsite, and Ino was on the ground in front of him, slowly regaining consciousness.

"Dang, that was difficult," Naruto said as he went over and offered his hand to help her up.

"I thought I had you for a second there. You really do have pretty powerful willpower. You were even able to resist after the reinforcement system was in effect," Ino said, taking his hand and standing up.

"Is that not always part of the jutsu?" Naruto asked, as he had assumed it was.

"No, that's part of the technique that my dad taught me recently. It's to make the jutsu more powerful, especially if you're going to be in your opponents mind for a while. My dad said that if they give in to five commands, it would no longer be possible for them to resist any more," Ino explained.

"Wow, that's pretty powerful. I'm even more surprised that I was able to escape it now," Naruto said.

"Really? Was it really good?" Ino asked, obviously doubting herself.

"Yes, I promise. The reinforcement was really powerful, and made it pretty hard to disobey. I have no doubt that with a little bit more training, you'll even be able to subdue me or Orochimaru," Naruto said with a smile.

"Thanks," Ino replied, blushing a little.

"So, what's next?" Naruto said.

"Well, I can't use that technique a lot in succession, so we can take a break from that and work on your medical ninjutsu."

"Awesome!" Naruto exclaimed with his trademark grin.

Without hesitation, Naruto took out a kunai and cut a gash in his left arm with it, wincing as he did so.

"Naruto!" Ino exclaimed in shock.

"What? It's hard to practice medical ninjutsu without an injury, right?" Naruto said matter-of-factly.

"Uh, I guess you're right," Ino said, not really thinking of any other solution. "Now, remember, this is a relatively minor wound, so not too much chakra, and make sure you keep it at the right rate. Since you're performing it on yourself, one thing you can do to make sure you have the right amount is start with a low bit of chakra, and then increase it slowly until you feel the warm feeling and you don't feel the pain anymore. Then, keep it at that same rate until it's fully healed. You saw what happens when you pump in too much chakra."

"Got it," Naruto replied.

He put the kunai back in the holster, and held his hand over the injured arm. He focused carefully on his hand, and started to pump out a little bit of chakra. Since he didn't really feel any difference, he increased it a little bit. He started to feel the warm feeling a little bit, but the pain was still there. So he increased it again, and continued to do so until he felt the pain go away and felt the warmth radiate through the wound.

He then tried to keep that same chakra channeling out, focusing as much as possible to not let it accidentally spike. After a while he looked down and saw that the wound was gone. He stopped healing and looked at Ino, wide-eyed and with a huge grin.

"I did it! I finally healed a wound all by myself!" he exclaimed.

"Great job, Naruto!" she replied, also smiling brightly.

And then, in his excitement and without really thinking about it, Naruto threw his arms around her in a tight hug. He felt her body stiffen significantly, and then realized what he was doing. He quickly let go, taking a few steps back and unconsciously scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry. I just got caught up in the excitement," he said, staring down a piece of grass on the ground.

"Oh, um, no. I-it's alright," she said rather breathlessly.

After a long moment of silence where they both purposely avoided each others' eyes, Naruto broke the silence.

"It's getting kinda late. I'm gonna go ahead and get dinner," Naruto said.

"Okay. I'm going to go get some more firewood, and put it on the fire before it goes out," Ino said.

They both set off to do their respective jobs. The entire time the Naruto was repeating the routine to catch fish, he was thinking about what had happened.

'_I can't believe I did that. I didn't mean to. It just kind of…happened. But she didn't push me away! Well, she didn't hug me back either. But that could've been just because she was surprised. But that could also be the reason that she didn't push me away. Goodness, why do these things always have to be so complicated?_' Naruto wondered.

He managed to catch four fish again, and yet filled the pot up with water again, heading towards the campsite. When he returned, the sun was barely still peeking over the horizon, and Ino had built up the fire so that it supplied plenty of light, and still had some firewood left over for later on that night.

He repeated what he had done that morning, holding a pan over the fire and placing the fish on them.

"So, when are you going to start training with the Suiton jutsu?" Ino asked.

"I'll probably start after you go to bed tonight," Naruto replied, glad that she didn't still sound weirded out from before.

"You don't have to wait until I go to bed. I can always practice the speed of how my jutsu moves through the air on animals, so I won't need you to practice that," Ino said, afraid that she was dragging him down and slowing down his training.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Of course. I'm used to just practicing on animals. That's usually what I practice on back in Konoha," she replied.

"Well, in that case, I'll probably start right after we eat," he said, smiling excitedly as he flipped the fish over.

"Speaking of which, there's actually something I need to tell you," he said, knowing that when he trained, there was a chance of the Kyuubi forcing through, and he wanted her to be prepared.

"What is it?"

"Okay, well, this isn't easy to say. I guess I should start out by saying why I'm telling you this in the first place. I'm going to train with this the same way I trained for learning the Futon Rasengan. The training is something that Kakashi came up with that involves using shadow clones while I train, which lets met take in all the experience from the shadow clones as well, which lets me learn techniques a lot faster than most people. But…there's a risk to this.

"Okay. You know how 15 years ago, the Yondaime Hokage defeated the nine-tailed fox demon that attacked the village?" he asked.

"Of course. Everyone knows that," Ino said.

"Well…he didn't really defeat it. He used some sealing technique to…seal the demon…inside of me. That's why all the villagers hate me. They know that the demon is sealed inside of me, and they see me as the demon itself. The reason I'm telling you this is because while I'm training with a bunch of shadow clones, my chakra gets spread out, and the Kyuubi has a chance to take over" he said, tearing up a little, afraid of what she might think.

She didn't say anything for a while, letting it all sink in. Naruto looked down and closed his eyes, ready for her to yell at him or try to attack him or something. But, unexpectedly, after a while he felt her arms around him.

"Naruto, just because a demon is sealed inside you doesn't make you a demon. I've known you long enough to know that you are no demon. If the villagers think so, well that's their fault, and their loss because they didn't get to know the real you," she said soothingly, holding him tightly.

Naruto didn't really know what to say. He was really happy and relieved that she felt that way, and he was rather surprised that she was hugging him. After he got over the shock, he wrapped his arms around her in response.

"Thank you," he said simply, not really knowing what to say, but she seemed to get the message anyway.


	10. Chapter 10

"Anyways," he said once he regained his mental composure, "when I was training with Kakashi, we had Yamato to help because he was able to suppress the Kyuubi's chakra. But obviously he isn't here, though I still have a solution. I've recently noticed that I've been more able of containing the Kyuubi's killer intent and chakra once it starts to leak, but it takes some trouble and time. So if you see any red chakra starting to surround any of me or feel any killer intent, you need to get under some kind of shelter as soon as possible. Can you promise me you'll do that?"

"Of course," Ino said, nodding with a very serious look on her face.

"Thank you. Then I can get started with training once we're done," Naruto said, nodding with a smile.

They finished eating in a comfortable silence. The fish was still good, but Naruto could tell it was going to start getting old after a while. He sighed, hoping that he and Ino would be ready to take on Orochimaru and Sasuke somewhat soon. While he could eat ramen every day of his life, fish was not the same way.

"Okay," Naruto said, standing up as he finished eating. "Time for training!"

Ino had finished as well, and couldn't help laughing at the wide grin plastered on his face that accompanied his thoughts of training.

'_This guy really loves to train, doesn't he?_' Ino thought as he made the cross-tiger seal and the area was suddenly full of blondes dressed in black suits and dark gray flak jackets.

Ino stood up and decided to get started on her training as well. Meanwhile, Naruto opened one of his water scrolls and read over the beginning. He nodded along as he read, and soon rolled it up and went to work.

'_So I was wrong in thinking that I needed to make the leaf wet. That seems to be very advanced training in trying to make water appear just from the moisture of the air. To start I have to pull water from a water source and make it float in the air._' Naruto summed up in his head after reading.

"Hey Ino, I'll be right back. I gotta go get some water from the river," Naruto said.

He and some of his clones picked up all the pots, pans, cups, and everything else they had that could be used to hold water in and they all travelled to the river. They filled up all of it with water from the river and brought it back to the campsite, setting all the containers on the ground, spaced out enough for all the clones to have a spot near one of them. They then began the training.

All of the Narutos held out their hands, and focused their minds completely on the water, trying to make it move with every fiber of their mind. Meanwhile, Ino held out her hands in the Shintenshin seal and looked at the birds that were luckily soaring around above them. She followed one with the seal, wondering how well she'd be able to control the jutsu in the air for the first time she was trying to do so. Finally, she decided to go ahead and try it.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" she said.

She suddenly felt an odd feeling, like she was leaving her own body, and she saw as the bird she had aimed at seemed to be getting closer. She tried with all of her might to follow the bird, for it was flying away, or just to turn her body at all. She thought she felt herself move slightly to the left, but wasn't sure if it was psychosomatic or not. As she had clearly gone way past the bird, she cancelled out the jutsu, and immediately felt herself back in her body. As she sat up, she looked around. There were still several Narutos around multiple containers of water, looking determined. She wondered how long she'd been unconscious after cancelling out the jutsu due to missing her target. She noticed that Naruto had pulled up his mask again. She wondered why, but shrugged.

She stood up, dusting off her clothes and yawning a bit. It was strange that just one miss could make her so tired. She wondered if it was because she had managed to move somewhat, or at least she thought so, which might have made the jutsu more tiring than it usually would've been. This seemed like a logical conclusion, and also made her feel better about her progress. This seemed to signify that she had indeed moved somewhat, and not just thought she did.

She looked over and saw that there were about 50 Narutos all gathered around various containers of water, all seemingly doing nothing. Although they all had their masks up, their eyes were narrowed and brows were furrowed in intense concentration. Whatever he was doing, it must be useful for something, though Ino had no clue of what.

Naruto was looking down intently at the bowl of water in front of him. The water was rippling at the moment, and, as he felt no wind, he thought this was likely the result of his training so far. It had been rippling for about a minute, but no matter what he did, thought of, or tried, it wouldn't do anything else. Finally he stood up, wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, and dispelled the clones. He instantly felt a wave of exhaustion as he looked down at the bowl of water, which was slowly stopping rippling.

"You were out for a while," Naruto said, seeing that Ino was now standing up. "I had to dispel a lot of clones to make sure I didn't lose control."

"Really?" Ino asked. "How long?"

"About an hour. I just got done training for now. I figured I could take a break," Naruto said.

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day where you would want a break after only an hour of training," Ino said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, the clone training does tire me out quite a bit," he said, shrugging as he picked up his sword and started swinging it around, fighting an imaginary enemy.

"That's not a break!" Ino yelled at him, laughing.

"Sure it is," Naruto said with a grin. "This stuff doesn't wear me out. It doesn't involve chakra, and this is physical training. Considering I've just been standing around doing nothing the last hour, I could use a little bit of movement," Naruto explained as if telling her the sky was blue and grass was green.

"Whatever you say," she said, rolling her eyes and returning to her training.

By the time night fell, both were lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Naruto had made a good amount of progress in training his sword technique and his Suiton control. After returning to the Suiton training, the Bunshin Training Technique showed its magic. While he had only been able to ripple the water before dispelling the clones and gaining their benefit, when he returned to the training, he was able to slosh the water around so that a lot of it spilled out of its container. By the time he dispelled the clones for the second time and then tried a little bit more just to see his progress, he was able to pull out a small drop of water and levitate it. After that, however, he was too tired to do anything, even his sword training.

Ino had made a similar amount of progress. Though her training was frequently interrupted by large breaks due to her missing her targets, on the fourth try, she had managed to make enough movement that there was no mistaking it for psychosomatic. Similar to Naruto, though, after that time, she fell to the ground, barely enough energy to roll over and look at the sky.

Soon, she realized that Naruto had come over and laid down next to her. She barely concealed her blush, and then silently chastised herself. Why would something so simple and stupid make her blush? Why was she starting to act so bashful around Naruto? It was stupid. She just ignored it and continued to look at the night sky.

They just both laid there in silence for a long time, staring at the night sky, enjoying its beauty and enjoying the peacefulness. Ino started to feel her eyelids becoming heavy, and could barely fight off the sleep that was quickly overtaking her.

"The night sky is beautiful, isn't it?" she said sleepily, and without really realizing what she was doing, she rolled onto her side, rested her hand on Naruto's chest, and fell quickly to sleep.

Naruto's face burned and he knew he couldn't even attempt to deny it anymore. He was falling hard for Ino. When they both lived in Konoha, he had never really considered Ino was a potential love interest. He had noticed that she was somewhat attractive in her own way, but beyond that, he never even gave her a thought. He was too focused on Sakura and on training. But now, in the few short weeks they had spent together since he captured her, his feelings for her had grown at an alarming rate, and he now liked her more than he had ever liked Sakura.

With Sakura, it had always just been a crush. Sure, at some point it seemed to evolve from a crush to something more, but he never really couldn't see himself without Sakura. Now, with Ino, she was constantly on his mind, he was constantly nervous around her, and when he pictured himself back in Konoha after this attempt was over, he always pictured him spending time with Ino. He wasn't exactly sure what love felt like, but he knew he was closer to it now than he had ever been before.

He wondered if Ino felt the same way. She seemed to be sending those kind of signals at him, but Ino had always been naturally flirtatious, and she could just simply be feeling more comfortable with Naruto now that they knew each other better. Naruto could feel the insecurity he always felt around girls in the past coming on him. He really liked Ino, but he doubted he would ever be courageous enough to tell her about how he felt. It was really funny, how he could go against the strongest criminal organization in the world and against the strongest Juubi in the world without much fear, but when he thought about the prospect of telling Ino what he had been feeling recently, it scared him so much he felt sick.

He rolled on his side as well to face Ino, instantly noticing that as he did this her arm slipped to be around his waist, and their bodies were now mere inches apart. A small lock of hair had fallen in front of her face, and he gently brushed it out of her face. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful she looked as she slept. As he also felt sleep coming upon him, he rolled back onto his other side, causing Ino's arm to fall back onto the ground, and he closed his eyes. Before he drifted off to sleep though, he heard her scoot over in the grass, and felt her arm wrap around his waist again.

'_Did she do that in her sleep, or did she do it consciously?_' was the last thought that passed through his mind before he fell away into a wonderful sleep.

A/N: Sorry for a rather shorter chapter, and for how sappy this chapter is :P But this story IS a romance as well as an action story, so these parts have to show up sooner or later!


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: A few mistakes I noticed when reading over my story that I should correct. In chapter 7, Okuno referred to his friend as a Bijuu. That's supposed to be Jinchuuriki. And, in the last chapter, Naruto thought about going up against the strongest Juubi. That should be Bijuu.

Two weeks later, training for both of them was going extremely well, and they were making quick progress on getting to Orochimaru's hideout. If they continued at their current pace, they would make it to Orochimaru's in less than two more weeks.

Naruto had been practicing using lower-level Suiton jutsu since he had finally made progress on learning how to manipulate water. He had effectively mastered Mizurappa no Jutsu and Teppōdama no Jutsu, and was working on using Suijinheki as well as Hahonryuu no Jutsu, because it was similar to Rasengan and would help him infuse the Suiton element into his Rasengan.

He had also been making leaps and bounds in the medical ninjutsu field. Once he had finally gotten the hang of the chakra control behind it, he started being able to heal small cuts and scrapes pretty easily. The week before, he had slipped as they were crossing a river and a rock had cut a somewhat deep gash in his leg. He tried to heal it himself and reduced its size significantly, but Ino had to finish it for him.

Ino had almost perfectly mastered her Shintenshin no Jutsu. She could now get it to move very quickly through the air and had some control over its path. She also could even keep control of Naruto for about five minutes, despite his extremely strong willpower. She decided that since she had good control of its movement through the air and because they were most likely going to use it as the beginning of a sneak attack, it would have a very slight chance of missing when they attacked, so she now focused on its ability to control the user without being overpowered by their will. Naruto, luckily, was a perfect training partner for this, since he had stronger willpower than anyone else she knew.

"I think I've almost got it," Naruto was saying to Ino about Hahonryuu no Jutsu. "It's really similar to Rasengan, since I need to rotate the chakra rapidly in my palm. It's just difficult to throw it once I get it rotating. Though…maybe, if I learn to throw this, I can apply the same concept to be able to throw my Rasengan."

"That would be extremely helpful. Turning a technique that powerful into a longer-range technique would make it almost unbeatable," Ino replied, impressed with Naruto's skill with his Suiton techniques so soon after learning it.

They were currently resting in a city for the first time since they had gotten new clothes and supplies. They had decided that, since they were now far away enough from Konoha and they hadn't had a meal besides fish in forever, they could stop in a city to get a good meal, stay in a hotel for a night, and restock on weapons safely without being noticed. They were at a ramen restaurant, and Naruto had just downed his fifth bowl.

"This ramen just can't compare with Ichiraku Ramen! More please!"

"Isn't that a little contradictory?" Ino asked, laughing.

"Hey, it might not be as good as old man Teuchi's, but it's still ramen, and it's been entirely too long since I've had some ramen," Naruto explained as though it were the most obvious thing in the world as the waiter refilled the bowl with Miso Pork Ramen.

Once they were done at the restaurant, they pulled what little money they had left together to restock on kunai, shuriken, bandages, and to buy their room for the night. Due to their little amount of money, they had to buy a single-bed room, and they had another long argument that Naruto won, so Ino, again, slept in the bed and Naruto set up his sleeping bag on the floor.

When Ino laid down in the bed, she fell asleep almost instantly, all the weeks of training, travelling, and bad nights' sleep catching up with her. Naruto laid down on his sleeping bag, his mask pulled down around his neck. He was starting to get a little sick of the mask. He didn't know how Kakashi kept one on 24/7. Naruto couldn't wait to get this mission over with so he could throw it away forever.

Once he was sure Ino was asleep, he very quietly got up, put on his flak jacket and left the hotel room. He decided to leave his katana in its sheath in the rucksack. He had seen a nice, open field on their way into the city, one perfect for training, and he felt that he was so close to completing Hahonryuu no Jutsu, he couldn't help but train with it any time he got the opportunity. So he would be focusing on that training, so he wouldn't need his katana.

He got to the field, and stretched a little before getting started. The night sky was lit up by thousands of stars and a bright, full moon. The field was strangely reminiscent of the third training ground back home, but without the three logs and memorial stone. It had a very large pond, which would be useful for his training, and the clearing was huge, flanked by thick forests.

Naruto walked over to the river and then took off his flak jacket in case he got really tired during the training and ended up falling in. He then walked out about twenty feet onto the pond. He made the three seals and held out his hand. Water from the pond started forming in his hand, rotating rapidly as more and more water continued to rise from the pond. Finally, he raised his arm and threw it forward, trying to summon chakra to push the rotating water from his hand. It went about three or four feet before it started dispersing and falling back into the pond.

"So close!"

Suddenly, he heard something to his right. He turned, and strained his eyes, trying to see between the trees. Then he saw a Konoha Oinin jump from the top of the tree line, holding a tiger seal.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

Then he felt a string cord around his stomach. He now realized that what he had heard was the Oinin throwing the cord. He then controlled it with his chakra to wrap around Naruto to prevent him from dodging the attack.

'Well, I guess there's no better time to try it than now,' Naruto thought.

He quickly flashed through five hand seals, ending with the tiger seal.

"Suiton: Suijinheki!"

Although he hadn't fully mastered it last time he tried it, apparently his adrenaline helped. Water shot up all around him, tearing through the cord and neutralizing the Oinin's attack. Naruto then leapt above the wall of water, throwing two kunai at the Oinin, mentally breathing a sigh of relief for having only taken off his flak jacket earlier. As the Oinin deflected them, Naruto created a shadow clone, pushing off of it to fly toward the Oinin. The Oinin was caught in the middle of the air, unable to dodge Naruto.

The Oinin started flashing through seals, theoretically for some fire technique, but Naruto had started first, and only needed three seals. He figured that if Suijinheki came through when he needed it most, maybe Hahonryuu would, too.

"Suiton: Hahonryuu no Jutsu!"

The water jumped to Naruto's hand and began swirling around rapidly. The Oinin had just finished his string of seals, but it was too late. Naruto threw his hand forward, pushing every bit of chakra he could muster to his hand to push the technique outward with every bit of willpower he had.

The technique shot forward, hitting the Oinin square in the chest and ripping through his armor, splashing water and blood everywhere as the Oinin shot back into the forest.

Naruto wasn't willing to wait to see if his technique had disabled the Oinin at all. Ignoring how tired he was, he sprinted across the water, heading straight for the town, grabbing his flak jacket and throwing it on along the way. He needed to get Ino and they needed to leave immediately. He wondered if the Oinin had simply been in the area already, and seen Naruto and attacked him, or if he had left from Konoha and tracked Naruto here. Either way, this started to worry Naruto. Oinin rarely worked alone, so there was a good chance that there were others.

Naruto didn't bother going into the hotel and running up the stairs to their room. Once he was in the vicinity of the hotel, he jumped up to the window of their room and kicked through the glass. Ino woke with a start.

"Get everything gathered together now! We have to leave!" Naruto shouted, pulling up his mask and quickly shoving his sleeping bag into his rucksack.

"What's wrong?" Ino asked, throwing everything into her rucksack as well.

"Oinin," Naruto replied as he threw his rucksack around his back and leapt out of the window.

He landed on the ground and quickly turned to the opposite direction of the training ground. Ino followed quickly behind him.

"Why are Oinin after you? Tsunade-sama didn't send any! She only sent our team!" Ino asked.

"They've most likely been looking for a chance to attack me for a long time. What better excuse than me leaving the village?"

"That's terrible!"

"Yeah, well. I've gotten used to it," Naruto said a little agitatedly as he leapt over the city wall, grabbed a tree limb, and swung himself forward.

"Wh…What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"Remember when I told you about the Kyuubi? Well, I've been dealing with this stuff since I was a kid. All the villagers hating me without even knowing me. Their children, without even knowing why, mimicking their parents' looks of hatred and ignoring me. Superiors not letting me do certain missions because of fear of me losing control. This isn't even the first time I've been attacked because of it. When I first left the village, three Oinin attacked me. After so long, you get used to it. You learn how to bottle up all the rage, the confusion, and the pain, and act as if it doesn't affect you," Naruto said, gritting his teeth as he remembered all those times, the pain as fresh as it was when it first happened.

"Naruto…"

Ino was speechless. Tears filled her eyes. Naruto had mentioned the Kyuubi inside of him, and had said that it was the reason all the villagers hated him, but she hadn't ever realized how much it had apparently hurt him. He had always seemed so carefree as a child, causing mischief for fun and goofing off in class. Then, once he became a ninja, he seemed so confident, always proclaiming how he'd one day be Hokage. You would never have guessed that the kid who was always so confident, outgoing, and carefree was actually holding in so much pain.

Naruto stopped, and punched the tree in frustration, blasting a hole straight through it. Ino landed next to him. He turned toward her, and she saw that his eyes were red, his whisker marks were more pronounced, and his canines had gotten longer. He was getting angry, and the Kyuubi was apparently seeping through. Ino was a little scared, but she didn't show it. She held her ground, and stepped forward, wrapping her arms around him, gripping him into a tight hug, trying to say in the hug all the things she was too stunned to say out loud.

She felt tears on her shoulder. Naruto's anger had changed into sadness. Ino couldn't imagine bearing all the pain he had, for something that he had no control over. It wasn't fair. Throughout the journey so far, she had felt like the weaker of the two. Naruto had easily been able to capture her and knock her unconscious when they first met in the woods. He had proceeded in his training much more than her. He had been the first to notice Deidara. But now, it was her turn to be strong. She fought back her own tears. She needed to be Naruto's shoulder to cry on right now, so she couldn't let herself break down and have him comfort her. So she managed to stop her tears from falling, and just let Naruto cry. If he wanted, she would let him pour out every bit of pain he had endured the last fifteen years right here. Maybe it was beyond her power, but all she wanted to do was take his pain away. It was then that she realized that she was starting to love Naruto.


End file.
